Milton High School replacing gym floor after pool leak

MILTON—Milton High School will be getting brand new floor in the school's main gymnasium, but it coming for a reason no one anticipated.

Milton Principal Jeremy Bilhorn confirmed crews have been tearing out the school's 45-year old gym floor after a fill tank from the school's swimming pool overfilled last week and soaked the floor, destroying about one third of it.

“It's a bummer,” Bilhorn told The Gazette Friday.

He said school maintenance crews last week were refilling the school's pool after it had been drained for routine maintenance when a tank in a room next to the gym backed up and began leaking water into the gym through cracks in a wall.

Bilhorn said maintenance noticed water collecting and cleaned it up, but didn't realize that water was continuing to come up under the wooden gym floor, which sits above concrete, on top of an underlay.

He said the floor soaked up water like a sponge, and school officials early this week noticed a large portion of the floor had begun to warp.

The district has decided to replace the floor, Bilhorn said because there is no way to match the size floor slats in the current gym floor with new wood slats, and the floor is clamped down tightly and large parts can't be removed without damaging them. He said the district's insurer will pay out the approximately $100,000 cost for workers to replace the floor, but the district must pay a $1,000 deductible.

The new floor will have moisture sensors, officials said.

It could be October before a new gym floor is finished at the high school. Meanwhile, the high school will hold fall girls volleyball games in the high school's second gym, and some practices could have to be at Milton Middle School's gym, Bilhorn said.

School officials are still trying to figure out how the tank overfilled, and whether it was from the being overfilled or from a malfunction, Bilhorn said.